Environment in the Classroom

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Comment by David Biggs on March 5, 2012 at 15:48

Firstly, Thank you all for your support and help during the length of this project, especially, Andy Lee, Andy Kirk, Dave Farebrother, Neil Herrington, Lucy Gilliam, Nora Naughton and the staff at St Johns School. Here is a summary of the work we completed while the project was running.

The project was an attempt to encapsulate some of the knowledge and expertise of RSA Fellows in the field of environmentalism and present it in a manner that could be used in the classroom to help educate and inspire the next generation.

 The initial problem we faced was how to engage with the Fellowship, Fellows being the busy people that they are, it became apparent that it would be very difficult to get sustained involvement from any significant number of Fellows. The possibility of using RSA Vision Videos was also discussed, these may have been appropriate for GCSE or A level students but due to the complex nature of the ideas discussed and the language used may have only frustrated a younger audience.

 We then collated the first draft of the lesson, collecting information from a number of related issues. This was far too long to actually be used in a lesson but gave us a starting point from which we could move towards something more engaging. See attached sheet, Env%20in%20C%20Revision%20No1%20.doc

From this document we found that the information on the subject was freely available but we were still struggling to find a way of involving Fellows and we had also identified a need for expertise in delivery. We were very lucky to be contacted by a local Fellow who had such knowledge in abundance. Together, we came up with a new approach based on the delivery rather than the content, this was a much more interactive approach and also gave a much more realistic method of involving Fellows. See attached sheet, Env%20in%20C%20Revision%20No2.doc

Briefly, the children would be split into groups and given an environmental question to answer. Each group of children would then be given a budget to buy packets of information on aspects of the environment. These would range from the objective data to subjective reports and interviews with RSA Fellows on why the environment is important to them, from a personal or professional perspective. The children's budget would not allow them to buy all of the information so they would have to be selective in their choices. Once they had digested the information obtained they would have to give a brief report answering the required question giving their reasons for their answer.

 This matter was discussed further at a group meeting, see attached sheet Environ%20in%20C%20281111.doc, and the possible objective data sources were investigated, see attached sheet Environ%20in%20C%20Info%20packs%2081211.doc. Unfortunately, due to a number of factors, we were unable to complete the work needed before the date given by the school involved for the pilot lesson. It was then decided that it would be better to call off the pilot lesson and the project rather than produce something of a substandard nature.

Andy Lee is also pursuing ideas on a similar subject, Nature deficiency and how the appreciation of the natural world is an integral part of all life, modern or otherwise.

Many Thanks

David Biggs and Sandy Rodger

Comment by Jay Marinus Nalini van Amstel on February 24, 2011 at 14:00

Thanks Jeff fot outreach our work! 

We develop an innovative environmental education project that has already reached 9000 children throughout the Brazilian territory. Our goal is to spread a new way of thinking and practicing Environmental Education. This new approach basically consists on the integration between media and entertainment in order to propagate knowledge and identification in favor of environmental reasons, without using the actual fatalistic speech that does not sensitize youth. In this way we are developing various tools such as digital games, television programs, websites, blogs, theaters and workshops. An important aspect is that we follow the current demand for entertainment that audience has, such as humor and fun activities. The key of success is integrating environmental educator’s individual potential with the power of social networks, forming multidisciplinary and international teams to insert environmental issues into entertainment industry.

See our web site: www.iam.net.br/english

We are open to invites!!! Thanks!!!

 

Comment by Alison Burgh on February 18, 2011 at 20:18

Andy, Everyone

Regarding our principle to: "Show potential career paths in sustainable industries", maybe we could do a quick survey of RSA Fellows to find out who has some 'sustainability role' in their job.

My guess is that it would throw up a very wide range of disciplines and types of jobs that encompass sustainability in some form - from financial management and investments to tourism, plus a wide range of CSR driven programmes across many sectors.

From a careers perspective, to see that sustainability can be applied across many industries and at many different levels could be inspiring to students, showing them studying sustainability in some form could create opportunities in a wide range of careers not purely in specific 'sustainable industries'.

Comment by Jeff Mowatt on February 18, 2011 at 19:44

Hi all,

As a business advocating sustainable local economic development one of the ways in which we participate in this area is to present at the Economics for Ecology conferences in Sumy.  

 In the context of children's education perhaps this will be of interest. It's a Brazilian group seeking international partners:

 

 

 

 

Comment by Andy Kirk on December 22, 2010 at 16:14

Update:

A small group of Fellows involved with the project had a conference call last week to plan the next steps.

We talked about ways of bradening involvement, through exploring partnerships with organisations such as STEMNET, but also through places that are doing similar work, such as Eco-Schools and PECT. Also, we discussed forging links with existing RSA work - Opening Minds and the Area-Based Curriculum - as they have both have crossover potential with this project.

It was stated our first principles are to:

• Show potential career paths in sustainable industries
• Inspire direct action
• Raise awareness of key debates on the environment

This should be achieved through non-traditional ways of exciting students about sustainability and careers in sustainability, exploring a variety of disciplines from technology through to art.

The lessons focussed on careers should be targeted at those at sixth-form college. With this age group, we thought of using the video materials available from RSA lectures on the subject of sustainability.

Next steps for the new year are to contact potential partner organisations and design two pilot lessons - one for careers, one for a wider age range.

As ever, comments and input are positively encouraged...